“I used to be scared…. Now my hands won’t twitch, even if I steal billions of rupees.”

—Azad Jalaluddin, pickpocket

Azad Jalaluddin is no “slumdog millionaire,” but like the protagonist in the popular feature the local police have got him in a bind. JOURNALS OF A WILY SCHOOL follows a young pickpocket through the streets of Kolkata, where he plies his trade and plays a real-life game of cops and robbers.